RSU supports forum "Cross-border Cooperation between the Baltic and Central Asian Countries for the Development of Higher Education"

From 13 to 14 December 2018, a forum "Cross-border Cooperation between the Baltic and Central Asian Countries for the Development of Higher Education" was held in Riga. The purpose of the forum was to discuss cooperation between the Baltic countries and Central Asia. Latvia is one of the European Union (EU) countries that has taken up a leading position in creating the EU strategy for Central Asia. As admitted by the Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bilateral Directions Directorate Ilgvars Kļava in his forum opening speech, student mobility and cooperation between the higher education institutions of the two regions is an important part of the EU strategy for Central Asia.

Delegations from Central Asian education institutions and ministries visited Rīga Stradiņš University during the forum. The guests were introduced to RSU and its internationalisation directions. They also visited structural units of the university – dentistry pre-clinical premises, laboratories, the library etc.

The Central Asian delegates were especially interested in adaptation of the experience of RSU in the development of the international dimension and integration into the European Higher Education Area. As the head of the Kyrgyz-German Institute of Applied Informatics, Nurlan Omurov mentioned, the Central Asian higher education institutions are especially interested in education reforms that were introduced in Latvia and other Baltic countries to transit from the Soviet education area to the European one .

"RSU has already forged a link with Central Asia in Latvia and other Baltic countries – primarily Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Citizens from these countries are studying medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at our university. Academic staff of the RSU Faculty of Dentistry are also cooperating with Kazakhstan by participating in the training of Kazakh doctoral students. New physicians and other healthcare specialists from Kazakhstan have been accepted to the RSU Faculty of Continuing Education on a regular basis. This year, Kazakh colleagues completed a traineeship in transplantology at RSU. RSU has signed several cooperation agreements with universities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. They cover different higher education sectors," explained the director of the RSU International Department, Baiba Pētersone.

Baiba Pētersone, Director of the International Department, addresses visitors

During the Central Asian forum, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Team of the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Education and Culture, Graham Wilkie presented an overview of higher education cooperation opportunities offered by the EC for Central Asia. Currently, these opportunities are available mostly within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme. The cooperation is possible through the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility, Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s programme and capacity building activities.

Director of the International Admissions Office, Māris Ginters informs guests about the university

The forum programme included a broad range of topics: European Union and Central Asia cooperation projects, the influence of cooperation on the higher education sector of Central Asia, ensuring the quality of education, paedagogy education and the experience of Baltic universities in cooperating with Central Asia.

The Central Asian delegation visit to RSU

The forum was organised by the Ministry of Science and Education and the Academic Information Centre in cooperation with RSU, University of Latvia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Education Development Agency.

You are still welcome to apply for the aforementioned Erasmus+ programme activities. If you're interested, please contact ID Erasmus office mobilityrsu[pnkts]lv (mobility[at]rsu[dot]lv).